John 6:14-15 (NIVUK)
14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, ‘Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.’ 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
The feeding of the 5,000 was enough to convince the crowd that they had discovered the Messiah, one like Moses who would stand between them and God and reveal his will, and one who like David who would overthrow their enemies and reign over them. But here’s the thing about Jesus, one of the reasons that he resists the titles that people give him is that he comes on his terms, to be the kind of Messiah he wants to be, not the one we think he ought to be. We cannot tame or control him, bending him to our will, as the people seek to here, hence his retreating up the mountain. Jesus is the Son of the great ‘I Am Who I Am’. He should define and shape us, not the other way around!
Jesus, forgive me for the violence I do to you in trying to shape you in my image. Shape me into yours.
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